By now, new forms of digital crack are being invented faster than lawmakers are able (or willing) to catch up with the previous forms. Yesterday, society and democracy were being destroyed by social media, today by “AI”. By the time the toxic effects of social media are being reined in (if ever), the forces of destruction will have moved on to “AI” or whatever comes after, in their efforts to concentrate wealth, power and influence in the hands of ever fewer people.
Wasn't this the observation / tension at the heart of Mountainhead?
The solution to this was representative democracy electing independently-minded technical experts, but electoral / parliamentary systems in many countries would need to change to make this viable.
E.g. in the US, what percentage of Congress do you think could give even an accurate 100-level description of AI?